Three months after tornado, Harrisburg, Ill., showing signs of renewal

Hardest hit Brady Street Apartments being rebuilt

The remains of a mangled tree, flag and car, from the Feb. 29 tornado that killed six people and destroyed many homes including the Brady Street Apartments, which are seen in the background, are reminders of the destruction as the rebuilding continues in Harrisburg, Ill. Residents have cleaned up most of the debris and are beginning to pick up the pieces and rebuild their homes. The 10 buildings which will contain 20 apartments are expected to be completed in August, and the residents who have been displaced will return home.

Bryce Mauney, 16, left, and his best friend, Cole Adams, 16, center, carry Fox Blocks, insulated concrete forms, as they start to rebuild the house Mauney's grandparents, Blaine and Rebecca Mauney, lived in when it was destroyed by an EF4 tornado on Feb. 29. The Mauneys will spend the summer rebuilding the home Blaine and Rebecca have lived in for close to 40 years. The blocks which are to be filled with concrete are able to withstand 250 mile-an-hour winds. They are also building a concrete safe room in the home which will be reinforced and provide the Mauney's with extra protection in the event of another storm.

Brayden Edwards, 12, grandson of Danny Morse, a Harrisburg native who is the owner of the Brady Street apartments which were destroyed in the Feb. 29 EF4 tornado that killed six people who lived in the apartments, helps his grandfather recently with the rebuilding process. Over the last three months Morse has cleared the debris and torn down the remaining buildings and has started to rebuild all 10 buildings which contain 20 apartments. Residents who survived the tornado and lived in the duplexes are waiting to return to their homes which are expected to be finished in August.

David Brown, right, and Jerry Wilson, center, work on putting siding on a newly constructed duplex, part of the Brady Street Apartments, which were destroyed in the Feb. 29 EF4 tornado that killed six of the tenants who lived in the apartments. The apartments which were destroyed by the storm are being rebuilt by owner Danny Morse. He expects to get all the previous tenants back in their homes by August. "We are working as hard and fast as we can so we can get all the people back in their homes and back to a sense of normalcy," Wilson said as he pounded nails into the siding.

HARRISBURG, Ill. - Three months after a powerful tornado ripped through Harrisburg, Ill., the air is filled with constant sound of hammering and the hum of construction demonstrating that renewal and new life is coming to the city of 10,000 people.

In areas hit hardest by the Feb. 29 storm that claimed seven lives, some mangled cars still sit untouched, and some of the destroyed houses show no sign that owners plan to return to them.

But others are just a few short months from being completed — including the collection of duplexes known as the Brady Street apartments behind the city's Walmart, the area that was hit hardest by the EF4 tornado.

"We've come a long way," said Danny Morse, a Harrisburg native and the project's developer. "We've got all 10 of them framed up again. We've got one of them painted, we're that far along. We've just had plenty of help."

Six of the seven of the fatalities were duplex residents — a harsh reality that Morse, 60, called "totally devastating." But Morse, who also owns his own construction company, said there was never a doubt he would try to rebuild, though all 10 of them had to be demolished before he could start the rebuilding process. After all, he originally started the project in 2003 with the goal of providing his hometown with more quality housing options. The first residents moved in 2004, and he added more duplexes in 2005 and the last four less than a year ago.

One of Morse's tenants was his mother-in-law, who was not injured by the storm. While he was thankful for that, Morse said last week that each person who died felt like family to him.

"The six lost lives," he said. "They were all friends. Some of them my wife had worked with, some of them I had known for a long time. It was like taking six members of your family away from you.

Morse said he expects the new units to be ready by the end of August. There's a waiting list for the duplexes, which will be laid out identical to the

ones they are replacing.

A few hundred yards from the project stands 76-year-old Joanne Brown's new mobile home, which she shares with her daughter, Linda Brown. The younger Brown, 58, said she moved in with her mother about a month before the tornado hit because of the older woman's worsening health. Linda Brown recalled that she and her mother "had two minutes" to get to the safety of the bathroom of their old trailer on the morning of Feb. 29.

When the two emerged from their home, Linda Brown said they — both uninjured — walked into a "horror" scene, chaos that won't ever be forgotten, she said.

"People were screaming for help, and alarms were going off," she said. "It's not something that you ever want to do again."

Motioning to the nearby duplexes, the scene of most of horror, Brown called the rebuilding progress there "wonderful." Like many storm victims, the Browns have slowly been putting their lives back together thanks to volunteers and aid from various organizations.

"I'm just thankful for everybody that helped us, and that's how it is for everybody," she said.

Among those that helped the Browns were the local Lions Club, which donated some furniture and Dorrisville Baptist Church, a Harrisburg church that neither woman belongs to, picked up the rest of the tab for the new trailer. Brown said she still doesn't know how much exactly the church contributed but it had to be several thousands of dollars, considering the Browns' insurance policy paid $10,000 and another organization gave the pair another $2,500.

Stories like that are not uncommon, said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Gregg. He lauded the efforts of other residents and local organizations for helping those in need as well as contributions from across region and the country.

"Whatever that we need, we ask for, and we've been blessed to get," he said about rebuilding efforts.

Reiterating a promise that Gregg made to the throng of media that descended on the city immediately after the tornado hit, he called efforts "remarkable" and said the community wants to rebuild as an honor to those who were killed by the powerful storm.

"We don't go a day without thinking about those we have lost either, and we're not going to," Gregg said last week. "That's something that we always have in our forethoughts. I think we have an obligation do our best and have an obligation to be the best that we can be."

As an example of the outpouring of generosity, Gregg pointed to the efforts of several local high schools, many of whom are bitter athletic rivals of the city's beloved Harrisburg High School Bulldogs.

"You can take losing when you make new friends like we have," Gregg said lightheartedly.

In front of her new home, Linda Brown was busy raking the yard, thankful that her mother had a place to call her own again. And she said, she was just as happy that others would soon be able to move back into the nearby duplexes, even if that means the buzz of construction has to become part of her daily life.

"They're doing good, they work daylight 'til dark," Brown said. "We're just glad to see that people are coming back home. No, that noise don't bother us at all."